


Karasuno Black

by 100demons



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 11:05:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3065540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100demons/pseuds/100demons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ukai tilted his head, cigarette tucked into the corner of his mouth. The fading sun touched his bleached hair with gold, dark cat-like eyes glittering with a strange light. </p><p>“Something’s bothering you, isn’t it?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Karasuno Black

“Oi, sensei, still up for that round you promised me earlier?”

Takeda’s eyes flicked over to the rearview mirror, catching Ukai lean against the open window, unlit cigarette hanging lazily in the corner of his mouth. His long fingers fiddled with a plastic lighter, bits of flame flaring to life before fading away in an instant.

“Round?”

“Feels like a good time to get drunk,” Ukai said, still looking out the window.

Takeda hastily turned his head back for a second, making sure that Kageyama was still asleep in the back. He was the only one left to be dropped off, alone in the backseat of the rental van.

“Ukai-kun,” Takeda said, a little reproving.

“So what, it’s not like these kids don’t know what life is like,” Ukai snorted, but he took the cigarette out of his mouth and stuffed it back into his jacket pocket. “Though I doubt Kageyama here ever thinks about anything but volleyball. He’s absolutely ball-crazy.”

Takeda pulled over in front of a large house off the side of the road, walls gleaming with freshly painted whitewash. The flower beds surrounding were beautifully maintained, colorful summer blossoms swaying gently in the afternoon breeze.

“I think this is it,” Takeda said, checking the GPS on his phone and matching it up against the signpost by the fence. “Kageyama-kun!”

He stirred, dark hair falling over his eyes as he blinked slowly. “Take-sensei?”

“We’re in front of your house.” Takeda watched, biting his lower lip, as Kageyama slowly slid off the seat, his gear bag in one hand and jacket in the other. “Do you need help?”

Ukai sighed, snapping off his seat belt. “I got this, sensei.” He gripped Takeda’s shoulder, his touch firm.

Takeda froze.

“Kid probably stiffened up on the ride back,” Ukai muttered and moved away, running a hand through his hair casually. “He didn’t cool down and stretch properly before we left.”

Kageyama made a peeved face at Ukai but otherwise didn’t say anything as Ukai clambered out of the car and helped him down, gentle movements at odds with the grumpy look on his face.

“Soak for at least thirty minutes today when you’re taking a bath and make sure you do proper stretches after that. Got it, kid?”

Kageyama bowed his head, mouth pressed into a thin line. “Coach,” he murmurred.

“Idiot,” Ukai huffed, but he clapped Kageyama’s shoulder and squeezed tight. “Oi, genius. You did good today.”

Kageyama looked up, his eyes unreadable.

“I’m proud of you,” Ukai said, quiet, and pulled Kageyama in for a tight hug. “You couldn’t have done any better, as a setter and as part of Karasuno. Good job, Tobio.”

Kageyama’s free hand hovered over Ukai’s back, uncertain.

“I’m proud of you,” Ukai repeated, his voice hoarse, and Kageyama’s hand clenched tightly at the black fabric of Ukai’s Karasuno jacket.

Takeda turned away from the window and gazed down at his hands. They were curled up in his lap, the sleeves of his too-long jacket covering his wrists. It suddenly felt too hot and itchy to wear and Takeda peeled it off, bunching it into a tight ball, so that the kanji on the back for KARASUNO HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL TEAM disappeared into a mess of black and white streaks.

Somehow, he felt worse after taking the jacket off.

 

* * *

 

“That’s 1,500 ¥ sensei.”

Ukai slammed a six pack of Sapporo down on one of the outdoor tables by the convenience store.

“I thought we were going somewhere…” Takeda fished his wallet out of his back pocket, pulling out a couple of bills. “Like a bar or an izakaya?”

“What and get overcharged by pricks when we sell the same thing in the store?” Ukai took the money with a two fingered salute, stuffing it into his work apron pocket. “Plus, I didn’t think that kind of place would be your scene.”

“Oh,” Takeda said, flushing deeply.

“Relax, sensei,” Ukai said, settling into a plastic chair and stretching his long legs out in front of him. “It’s been a hell of a long day, all I want to do is just drink some ice cold beer and smoke all the cigarettes I couldn’t during the sets.” He pulled out two bottles from the cardboard box and popped the caps against the edge of the table.

Ukai held one up to Takeda, grinning sloppily. “Sensei?”

Takeda’s flush deepened and he took the beer, sitting down next to Ukai. The sun was just about to set and they drank in silence, watching the light slowly bathe the street in alternating shades of gold and orange, transforming the ordinary asphalt road into a glory of colors.

“You want one?”

Takeda put his beer down on the table, next to the two empty ones Ukai had already finished. An ashtray had materialized into existence on the table, filled with cigarette butts and a small mountain of ash.

A cigarette dangled off Ukai’s fingers in Takeda’s direction.

“I don’t smoke.” Takeda shook his head. “I never liked the taste.”

“You’re a better man than I am,” Ukai observed, raising the lighter up to his mouth. Flame flickered to life in an instant and lit up the end of the cigarette, flaring a bright cherry-red as Ukai inhaled deeply, his cheeks hollowing.

“Ah, I needed that,” Ukai blew out, smoke wreathing his hair in wispy curlicues. Takeda noticed that he took care to blow it in the other direction and felt oddly touched.

“You know, it feels different on the other side.”

“Coaching, do you mean?” Takeda asked, picking at the damp label on his bottle.

“Losing,” Ukai corrected, tapping the ash off his cigarette. “As a coach, it feels different. I keep thinking-- ah, maybe if I had explained this better, or said something else, or if I had held better practices. Maybe if it had been the old man, I wouldn’t have let these kids down. There’s something almost powerless about being the guy in charge, funny as it is.”

A long strip fell away from the bottle, wet with condensation. Takeda crumpled it up into a tight ball in his fist. “I don’t think you did. Let them down, I mean.” He looked up, scrunching his nose so that his glasses wouldn’t slip down the bridge. “You were amazing, Ukai-kun.”

Ukai tilted his head, cigarette tucked into the corner of his mouth. The fading sun touched his bleached hair with gold, dark cat-like eyes glittering with a strange light.

“Something’s bothering you, isn’t it?”

Takeda laughed a little ruefully and dropped the crumpled paper ball onto the ashtray. “It’s not anything, really.”

Ukai didn’t say anything, instead stubbing out his cigarette and lighting up another one.

“When I was a kid, I wasn’t really good at anything but reading books.” Takeda rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Actually, that’s all I’m good at even now. That and begging on my knees.”

“I’ve seen proof of that,” Ukai grinned, leaning back on the rear two legs of his chair.

“Yes, well.” Takeda sighed. “I don’t know much about volleyball or sports or about coaching. When I looked at their faces today, I just wish I could have done something more. Anything.” He thought of Kageyama’s hand, fisted in Karasuno black, trembling. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“Who’s to say you didn’t?”

Takeda’s fingers fumbled and he nearly dropped his spectacles onto the ground. “What?”

“You brought me in, didn’t you? And you convinced the geezer over at Nekoma and even Seijoh for practice games.”

“But--”

“And you’re good at that speech stuff.” Ukai let his chair fall back onto all four legs and grabbed his third bottle of beer. “With all those big words and poetry and speaking to the heart.”

“Are you blushing?” Takeda said slowly, a smile slowly growing on his face.

“It’s the alcohol,” Ukai muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “The point is, you did what you could with what you had. The team couldn’t have done it without you. _I_ couldn’t have done it without you, sensei.”

Takeda blinked hard, the sharp lines of Ukai’s face slowly growing fuzzy and out of focus. He looked away, wiping his eyes with a shirtsleeve. “That was...almost poetic of you, Ukai-kun.”

“Maybe you’re rubbing off,” Ukai snorted, but his eyes were soft and thoughtful. “We’ve got the spring tournament to think of, don’t fall apart on me now, alright? I’m counting on you.”

Takeda unfolded his glasses carefully, the metal frame cold against his fingers. “Alright,” he said firmly and slid them onto his face. “I understand.”

“Oh, and sensei?”

“Hmm?”

“You look good in the jacket.” Ukai tapped his chest, where he still wore Karasuno black underneath his work apron.

“I didn’t--” Takeda thought guiltily back to where his bundled up jacket sat on the driver’s seat of the car, underneath his work briefcase. “You saw that?”

“You deserve to wear just as much as I or any of the boys do.” Ukai gave him a half smile. “Karasuno black is a good look for you, anyhow. You should wear it more often.”

Takeda touched the collar of his white shirt, tie stuffed in his back pocket. "Then you'd better coach the team to more and more matches, Ukai-kun. So I can wear it all the way to Nationals."

Ukai threw back his head and laughed, the long line of his neck limned in light. "You drive a hard bargain, Takeda-sensei. Alright. Next year, spring tournament, I'll make sure you wear that jacket in Tokyo."

Takeda watched Ukai lean back bonelessly in his chair, his cheeks high with color, and smiled into his beer. "I'd like that."


End file.
